Stringed musical instrument.



P. L. MORRIS.

STRINGED MUSIGAL INSTRUMENT. APPLIUATION FILED SEPT.3,1909.

ANDREW B. GRAHAM c0 Puon'm. TKOGRAPflERS, WASHING Patented June 21, 1910.

PINKNEY L. MORRIS, OF GRAND RIDGE, FLORIDA.

STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 21, 1910.

Application filed September 3, 1909. Serial No. 516,150.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PINKNEY L. MORRIS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Grand Ridge, county of Jackson, and State of Florida, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Stringed Musical Instruments, of which the following is a specification,

My invention relates to stringed musical instruments.

The present invention is an improvement on the musical instrument shown in the patent to Cobb, No. 223,318, dated January 6, 1880, and has for its object the provision of novel means on the string bar which will amplify the sound made by vibration of the strings when the instrument is being played, sweeten the tone of the instrument, and otherwise render it superior to the instrument shown in the said Cobb patent.

The invention is fully set forth hereinafter and the novel features are recited in the appended claim.

In the accompanying drawings :-Figure 1 is a perspective view of the instrument; and Figs. 2 and 3 are detail views showing the cut-out part or recess in the string bar and the plate received therein and secured thereto.

As in the Cobb Patent No. 223,318, the present instrument embodies a sounding box 1, a string bar 2 having frets 3, strings 4 extending over bridges 5 and 6, and tight eners 7. In practice, the sounding box is preferably about three feet long and slightly less than a foot in width.

My improvement consists in recessing or cutting out the string bar, as shown at 8 underneath the strings adjacent the place where they pass over the bridge 0 and in providing in said cut-out place a metallic plate 9 which is preferably of sheet metal whose body conforms to the cut-out part 8 and which is provided with side flanges 10 secured to the string bar by fastenings 11.

In playing the instrument, a suitable piece of reed 12, or the like, is held by the left hand and pressed upon the strings at the frets, and the strings are vibrated by a piece of horn 13, or the like, which is struck across the strings over the plate. The plate not only amplifies the sound, but also mellows and sweetens the tones and in addition to this prevents injury to the string bar by reason of the striking of the strings.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

In a stringed musical instrument, the combination with a sounding box, of a string bar mounted thereon in raised relation thereto and having feet at its ends which are connected to the sounding box, strings con nected at both ends to the feet of said bar and extending above and lengthwise thereof, said string bar having a depressed portion in its upper face adjacent one of the feet aforesaid, a metallic plate secured in said depressed portion and disposed below the upper surface of the string bar, and frets on the string bar.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto afiiX my signature in presence of two witnesses.

PINKNEY L. MORRIS.

WVitnesses B. L. PORTER, HENRY MORRIS. 

